The effect of silicon and high rate of nitrogen fertilizers on the growth and yield of TQR-2 paddy variety

Abstract

This study was carried out from August 2010 to December 2010 at the School of Sustainable Agriculture Field Laboratory in Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) to evaluate the effects of different levels of silicon fertilizer treatments and high nitrogen fertilizer application on the growth and yield of TQR-2 paddy variety and its effect on reducing the lodging effect on the paddy. Silicon Premium 2 (SP2) fertilizer was used for the six treatments at the rate of 0, 250, 300, 350, 400, 450 kg ha⁻¹. The urea was applied as basal fertilizer before transplant, 15 OAT and panicle initiation and the silicon fertilizer at 15 DAT and panicle initiation. Urea was used as nitrogen source at 120 kg ha⁻¹. A completely randomized design (CRD) was used in this study and consisted of six treatments with three replicates each. In addition, the parameters on plant vegetative growth, yield components and strength of paddy stem were recorded and the data was
analysed using one way ANOVA at 0.05% significant level. The high rate of silicon fertilizer (450 kg ha⁻¹) increased the plant height up to 72.33 cm at tillering stage and 92.33 cm at panicle initiation stage. Moreover, 450 Si kg ha⁻¹ resulted in significantly higher culm height (64.33 cm) during harvest, 1000 grains weight (27.53 g) and stem diameter (2.52 cm) compared to all other treatments. The extrapolated yield of TQR-2 paddy variety had increased significantly up to 7.6 ton ha⁻¹ per season by the high
application rate (450 kg ha⁻¹) of silicon fertilizer. However, the length of basal internode was decreased to 0.98 cm as one of the prominent factors that increase the
strength of paddy stalk and lodging tolerance of TQR-2 paddy variety. The application of silicon fertilizer on the TQR-2 paddy variety with high nitrogen fertilization is
recommended to reduce the lodging effect and achieve high yield.